feed | Stuttering Foundation: A Nonprofit Organization Helping Those Who Stutter

Gerald Ford: American President and a Person Who Stuttered

The American public is well aware of Joe Biden’s childhood stuttering. But did you know about President Gerald Ford?

Stuttering Foundation Celebrates National Stuttering Awareness Week with ‘75 Must-Use Resources’

Memphis, Tenn. (May 13, 2024) — For more than 75 years, the Stuttering Foundation, the first and the largest nonprofit charitable organization in the world working toward the prevention and improved treatment of stuttering, has provided free online resources, services and support to those who stutter and their families, as well as support for research into the causes of stuttering.

May 8, 2024

Stuttering in the Military

SFA Blogger Jordan Northrup Shares His Experiences in the United States Marine Corps.

Speeding & Stuttering

NASCAR driver Mason Massey discusses stuttering and his career

The World's First Female Speech Therapist

Charles Van Riper was renowned in the field of speech pathology. His wife, Catherine Jane “Katy” “C.J.” Hull Van Riper, was a pioneer in her own right.

One Size Does Not Fit All

John Stossel and Emily Blunt discuss their stuttering struggles and strategies.

The Legacy of King’s Speech Screenwriter David Seidler: “We have a voice. We have been heard.”

With profound sadness, we share news of the passing of David Seidler.

March 11, 2024

Bad Connection

If I have learned anything on my journey with stuttering it is that this journey is not linear.

Audiobooks

These resources are available as audiobooks on our continuing education platform.

Winter Magazine

Check out letters and drawings from kids in this special edition. PLUS, we have new activity pages.

75 Must-Use Resources for the Stuttering Community

To continue our celebration of The Stuttering Foundation’s 75^th Anniversary, we offer our list of 75 critical resources.

Actions: Performance as the Muse of Fluency

For many years, I chose not to make music around my stutter because I didn’t understand it.

John Garfield

Hollywood's original method actor had an amazing and short career as a star. He had many impressive movie roles but his untimely death from a heart attack in 1952 at age 39 meant that his highly successful career was abruptly stopped in its tracks.

Do the Best with the Knowledge You Have

“Remember that you played the best you could with what you knew at the time." - Owen Knight Survivor 43 finalist

Help for Those Who Stutter is as Close as Your Local Library

For decades, The Stuttering Foundation has made its books and videos available for free to public libraries across the country.

Singers Share Their Stories

Stuttering Foundation sits down with Amanda Mammana from America's Got Talent and Marybeth Byrd from American Idol

Why We Need A Broader View of Stuttering

Stuttering has been shown to have features that intersect with language, and both adults and children who stutter appear to process language differently than fluent peers.

Back to the Basics: The ABCs of Stuttering

In The ABCs of Stuttering, students courageously share what it's like to stutter, how it makes them feel, and how it affects their participation at school.

Fall Magazine

Our magazine is now availabe online. Check out the latest news impacting the stuttering community, information about our new video, the latest research, and letters and drawings from kids.

5 Famous People You Probably Didn't Know Stutter

Stuttering is a speech disorder that affects an estimated one percent of the world’s population — that’s more that 80 million people worldwide.

5 Famous People You Probably Didn't Know Stutter

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Greg Wilson
gregwilsonpr@gmail.com
571-239-7474

Hot Off the Press

Our new catalog offers resources for everyone: children, teens, adults, teachers, parents, speech-language pathologists, physicians.

Proinsias De Rossa is a Prominent Politician in Ireland

Proinsias De Rossa may not be known to the world at large but he is one of the prominent politicians in Ireland in the last half century. His political career started in 1956 at age 16 when he joined the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and became politically active with the Sinn Fein party. He served seven months in prison at Mountjoy Prison in Dublin for his activities with the IRA. Afterwards he began a hardworking political career that saw him become the Leader of the Workers Party from 1988 to 1992.

Literary Master of the Supernatural

Peter Straub was a famous novelist who wrote genres of horror and supernatural fiction.

Remembering Alfred Kaehler

He accomplished so many things. He graduated from UC Berkeley. He worked on the Manhattan Project during World War II as a mechanical engineer and Junior Scientist. He worked on many other interesting projects at SRI in Menlo Park, Lockheed, and Raychem.

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CELEBRITY FOCUS

Mel Tillis

Mel Tillis, born Lonnie Melvin Tillis, was an influential figure in country music, both as a songwriter and a performer. His journey to fame was marked by overcoming personal challenges, including a stutter that he turned into a defining part of his public persona.

Bob Love

Bob Love has dreamt about being a great public speaker since his early days in Bastrop Louisiana, even though, as a young man, he could barely put two words together, let alone speak a full sentence.

In spite of his severe stuttering disability, Bob Love, the son of a sharecropper, rose to become a Chicago Bulls NBA superstar, whose records were eventually surpassed by Michael Jordan. Throughout his entire athletic career, Bob Love kept his stuttering a secret from the fans who adored him, thinking he could do his “talking” on the basketball court.

Ken Venturi

As much of the nation watches the U.S. Open Golf Championship, it is impossible not to think about our late friend Ken Venturi. Ken overcame many challenges to win the Open at Congressional in 1964 and go on to become the voice of golf for more than three decades.

However, Ken faced no bigger obstacle than stuttering. Ken Venturi was a champion to those who stutter, going out of his way to share his personal experience when consulted by a colleague, friend, or child who stutters.

Bill Walton

From BillWalton.com

Thank you for your interest in my life long problem with my speech and communication skills. I was a very shy and reserved young man who could not speak at all without severely stuttering until I was 28 years old. Always a success in the classroom and on the basketball court, I took refuge in the things that I did well as a youngster. A straight A student, my athletic abilities covered the deficiencies that limited my overall growth and development. The game of basketball was my religion, the gym my church. It was a convenient way of avoiding my responsibilities of developing my human relation skills.

When I was 28, a chance encounter at a social event with Hall of Fame broadcaster Marty Glickman completely changed my life in so many ways that things have never been the same since, nor have they ever been better. That day, in a very brief, private conversation (one way, mind you, since I literally could not speak at the time) Marty explained, patiently and concisely, that talking, communicating was a skill not a gift or a birthright and that like any skill, whether it be sports, music, business or whatever, needed to be developed over a lifetime of hard work, discipline, organization and practice. Marty gave me some simple tips that day and then encouraged me to take those keys and apply them to methods of learning that I had received from the special teachers that I had come across in my life, particularly the 6 Hall of Fame basketball coaches that I had played for throughout my career. The beginning of my whole new life was as simple as that. No gimmicks, tricks or shortcuts. Just the realization that with some help, guidance and a lot of hard work that I too could do what seemed so easy, simple and natural to everyone else, yet seemed impossibly out of my reach and comprehension.

Frank Wolf

This Virginian congressman has served in the U.S. House of Representatives since 1981. The longtime supporter of the Stuttering Foundation drew national attention to childhood stuttering in 2006 when he submitted an article about Tiger Woods from the SFA newsletter to the Congressional Record. The congressman is featured in the Stuttering Foundation's Famous People Who Stutter brochure.